Price Competition in International Mixed Oligopolies

In this paper we analyze the effects of international competition in a mixed oligopoly framework, with price competition and differentiated products. The properties of equilibria, and the impact of policy measures such as privatizations and cross-border acquisitions, are studied both in a single-country and in a two-country framework, under the hypothesis that all firms share the same linear technology. Besides showing that the international competition in a mixed market allows for efficiency gains which are consistent with binding budget constraints for the public firm, we identify the market structures and the competitive environment which support welfare enhancing privatization policies, independently of any exogenous or endogenous cost differential between public and private producers. In particular, we suggest that the cross-country distribution of firms, the degree of product substitutability and the overall density of the market are the key elements in the assessment of the desirability of public ownership.International mixed oligopoly, price competition, privatization

Quantity Competition, Endogenous Motives and Behavioral Heterogeneity

The paper shows that strategic quantity competition can be characterized by behavioral heterogeneity, once competing firms are allowed in a pre-market stage to optimally choose the behavioral rule they will follow in their strategic choice of quantities. In particular, partitions of the population of identical firms in profit maximizers and relative profit maximizers turn out to be deviation-proof equilibria, both in simultaneous and sequential game structures. Our findings that in a strategic framework heterogeneous behavioral rules are consistent with individual incentives provides a game-theoretic microfoundation of heterogeneity.Behavioral Heterogeneity, Endogenous Motives, Relative Performance, Multistage Games, Quantity Competition.

The Price Index Effect and Macroeconomic Inefficiency

In the Dixit-Stiglitz model of monopolistic competition the effects of individual pricing decisions on the aggregate price index are neglected. Tliis paper studies the implications of this approximation in terms of the efficiency of macroeconomic equilibria. We show that allowing for the price-index effect, makes the degree of inefficiency positively correiated with the number of agents; it also reduces the scope for New Keynesian outcomes, such as price rigidity and multiple equilibria.New Keynesian economies, aggregate demand externalities, nominal rididity

Optimal Manipulation Rules in a Mixed Duopoly

We study the optimal manipulation rules of a public firm’s objective function in a mixed duopoly with imperfect product substitutability. We compare the solutions under quantity and price competition, and the way in which they are affected by the degree of product substitutability. This allows us to show that partial privatization, strategic delegation and other specific government’s commitments on the objective function of the public management can be looked at as special cases of these optimal rules, and to evaluate the viability of these policies under the two modes of competition. In this framework, we also discuss the equivalence between manipulation of the objective function and Stackelberg leadership.Mixed oligopoly, strategic manipulation, partial privatization

Strategic delegation and market competitiveness

Within a strategic delegation model, this paper examines in a quantity setting oligopoly framework the determinants of the degree of strategic delegation - the latter being defined as the extent of the departure from pure profit maximization. The sub-game perfect equilibrium degree of strategic delegation is derived as a function of the two key parameters which determine market competitiveness in a homogeneous product set-up, i.e., the price-elasticity of market demand and the number of firms. With respect to both these parameters we find that their relationship with the degree of delegation is not necessarily monotone. Indeed, for an increase in elasticity or a reduction in market concentration to reduce strategic delegation, these determinants of the Lerner index of monopoly power must satisfy restrictions which guarantee that the initial market environment is sufficiently competitive.Strategic delegation, quantity competition, constant price-elasticity of demand

Spatial Discrimination with Quantity Competition and High Transportation Costs: a Note

In this paper we extend the analysis of the standard model of spatial discrimination with quantity competition along the linear city to the case in which the unit transportation cost is greater than one. We show that in such a case the unique subgame perfect Nash equilibrium in locations is a dispersed symmetric equilibrium. Moreover, at this equilibrium firms' locations are not monotone in the transportation cost parameter.Market Coverage

Competition and the Strategic Choice of Managerial Incentives: the Relative Performance Case

In this paper we study the role of market competitiveness in a strategic delegation game in which owners delegate output decisions to managers interested in the firm's relative performance. In particular we study how the optimal delegation scheme - i.e. the distortion from pure profit maximization - is affected by market concentration and the elasticity of market demand. We show that these two indexes of market competitiveness do not alter managerial incentives in the same way: while the optimal degree of delegation decreases as the market becomes less concentrated, it increases as demand becomes more elastic.Strategic delegation, relative performance, oligopoly, isoelastic demand

Do firms compete when demand is low? A Model of Spatial Differentiation

In a spatial competition model, changes in firms’ competitive behaviour may occur when the hypothesis that individual gross surplus is positive in equilibrium is relaxed. We prove that there exists a region of the relevant parameter where firms’ behaviour mimics collusion, while in another range they find it optimal to isolate from each other and behave monopolistically